I used 70lb artist paper boiled in tea water for about 30 minutes then dried and ironed. Using the wrinkles as a guide for islands, rivers and lakes I used a sharpie to draw it all in. Then I added mountains, ships, octopi, dolphins, towns, fish, castles, etc. Then the painting. I'd been trying this out on earlier versions for a few weeks and you want to write in the place names after painting in the water and forest parts. The paints were watery acrylics, which I like more than water colors, but painty paint, let dry, mist and iron. Get everything nice and painted. Now you can write in names. I used nieces and nephew names and then did a search for some fictional locations. I hope they're on Wikipedia for a month. The back was lightly spray painted black and light blue and stenciled with red.

The cloth book was painted to look like a map and then quilted. I added a skeleton key from my stash and inside along with the map I added a plastic compass, a magnifying glass and a kaleidoscopic. Not as much to play with for him but I'm hoping he does eventually.